The invention relates to a sealing connecting element, a sealing end piece and a seal.
Seals are used in a number of areas of daily life, in order to seal off specific spaces from each other or from the environment in a liquid- and/or gas-tight manner. A particularly important area of application for seals is that of doors and flaps, at which in part large sealing gaps regularly occur owing to inaccuracies in the assembly process.
One particular area of application for seals is motor vehicle construction, in which there are usually extremely high demands placed upon the sealing behavior of a seal and its load capability with respect to environmental influences, such as temperature fluctuations, UV-radiation, the influence of solvents and other environmental factors. In order to be able to guarantee a long serviceable life under possibly extreme environmental conditions, it is known in practice to use elastomer seals. The materials most frequently used for these types of elastomer seals are EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene-copolymers), NBR (natural butadiene rubber), NR/SBR-blends and CR-materials (controlled rheology polypropylene materials).
It is known in practice to process the said materials to form strip profiles which are then tailored to suit the specific requirements by being cut and adhered to form three-dimensional structures. It is also known in practice to connect the EPDM-sealing profiles at their corners by means of a TPE-V-injection molding technique (book: Thermoplastische Elastomere—Herausforderung an die Elastomerverarbeiter/VDI-Gesellschaft Kunsstofftechnik, [thermoplastic elastomers—challenge to the elastomer manufacturers/VDI-Gesellschaft synthetic material technology], VDI-Verlag GmbH 1997, page 145). In the said three-dimensional structures, the seals are then given to the customers who install them into vehicles or other structures.
In order to be competitive in the market, it is necessary to provide in a rapid manner large quantities of seals which can be assembled in a convenient manner. Owing to its flexibility during processing, the sealing strip material places high demands upon the persons employed in the manufacturing process.
It is known per se from JP 01 186447 A to insert the end faces of two sealing profile strips into a hard polyamide coupling piece and to adhere them together.
It is known per se from JP 58 224810 A to seal window sealing profiles, which abut each other in a flush manner, with respect to each other by virtue of a locally integrally-formed sealing lip.
DE 36 29 343 A1 illustrates as being known per se a corner connector with tapered mandrels and in each case a profile strip is attached and adhered thereto with a hollow space.
It is known per se from U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,826 A to attach a window to the bodywork of a motor vehicle. For this purpose, the window, sealing profiles and a corner piece are placed in position. Then, the intermediate spaces are filled with a sealing adhesive.
According to EP 0 395 444 A1, an end cap is pushed in a manner known per se on to an open end face of a clamping profile, the clamping profile having been placed on to a bodywork flange beforehand.
It is known per se from EP 0 378 419 A1, FIGS. 1 and 5, to attach a holding device for a rear-view mirror to a window channel structure. The holding device comprises an end piece which is partially coated with polymer. Connection spigots of adjoining frame profiles have a rectangular cross-section and are inserted into an open receiving channel of the end piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,761 illustrates as known per se the releasable connection of a window compartment seal to a door seal for a coupé. A transition piece is vulcanized to the window compartment seal. The transition piece comprises a recess, into which it is possible to insert an upper end of the door seal from below. In this inserted state, the connection is secured in an axial manner by virtue of a claw of the transition piece, which claw engages into a complementary recess of the door seal.
In accordance with DE 42 43 043 A1, it is known per se to attach together in a flush manner two ends of a clamping profile which comprises a textile coating. The clamping profile comprises a sealing tube, into the hollow space of which a complementary, rubber-elastic spigot is introduced in each case with a part of its length as a coupling element.